Central African Republic: On the road to reconciliation in Bangassou

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In May 2017, a Catholic Mission in Bangassou in the Central African Republic became a symbol of resistance. Priests formed a human chain to defend Muslims from a massacre by Christian majority anti-balaka militants. The priests sheltered the persecuted Muslim community for four years. Caroline Dumay and Stefan Carstens report on the current state of reconciliation in Bangassou, in a country where some 15 armed groups are still active.

‘We thought they were going to stay for four months, but they stayed for four years’, said Father Juan José Aguirre.

The Bishop of Bangassou has lived through dark days in the Central African Republic and now says that he is proud to have “avoided a genocide”.

The Muslim community of Bangassou will be forever grateful to him. Nearly seven years on, life has returned to normal in the town some 700 kilometres southeast of Bangui.

The Catholic Mission was founded in 1929 and provides schooling for more than 4,000 pupils, including 300 orphans. A new bishop has been appointed by Pope Francis to take over from Father Aguirre. Father Aurelio Gazzera is an Italian missionary who is well known to Central Africans, having lived in the country for over 30 years. Formerly a priest in Bozoum, he had made major contributions to dialogue between the opposing communities during the civil war.

Despite elections scheduled for the end of the year, peace in the region remains fragile.

Father Aurelio does not have access to all the parishes in his diocese as some are still occupied by armed groups.

While towns are relatively safe, locals explain that they are sometimes attacked by bandits. Slowly but surely, Father Aurelio continues to carry out reconciliation efforts.

“Central Africans have realised that one community should not be pitted against another. People have instinctively been careful not to fall back into the abyss we were in in 2014-2015,” he said.

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